Cancer patients from Saurashtra and Kutch who need radiation treatment can now get it at AIIMS Rajkot. Union Health Minister J P Nadda opened the institute’s Rs 39 crore advanced radiotherapy department by video link on Monday, November 2, PTI reported via ThePrint. Gujarat’s Minister of State for Health, Praful Pansheriya, joined from Gandhinagar, according to The Free Press Journal.
Until now, families from the region generally travelled to Ahmedabad or Mumbai for this kind of care, both outlets noted. A radiotherapy course usually runs daily sessions over several weeks, so a patient living hundreds of kilometres away pays for weeks of lodging on top of the treatment itself.
Three machines in the new Rajkot department
The Centre funded the department under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), the scheme that built the newer AIIMS campuses. Reports list three main pieces of equipment:
- A high-energy linear accelerator (LINAC), which aims radiation beams at a tumour from outside the body. Hospitals use it for most external radiotherapy.
- A wide-bore CT simulator, a scanner with a larger opening. Doctors use it to map the tumour and plan the dose before treatment starts.
- A high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy unit, which places a radiation source inside or next to the tumour for short sessions, commonly in cervical cancer treatment.
With this set-up the department can offer intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), image-guided and stereotactic treatment, The Free Press Journal reported. These methods shape the beam around the tumour and spare more of the healthy tissue next to it. The paper said the department will treat head and neck, gynaecological and breast cancers.
No charge for PM-JAY cardholders at AIIMS Rajkot
Patients covered by Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY will get cancer treatment at AIIMS Rajkot free of cost, and other patients will pay subsidised rates, both PTI and The Free Press Journal reported. If you or a relative has been referred out of Saurashtra for radiation, ask the treating oncologist whether AIIMS Rajkot can take the case before booking travel.
500 to 700 patients a year from a region of 1.54 crore
PTI put the department’s expected load at 500 to 700 patients a year, drawn from an estimated 1.54 crore people across Saurashtra. One linear accelerator can serve only so many people, so the department will ease the pressure on Ahmedabad’s cancer hospitals without ending referrals from the region.
The radiotherapy unit adds to an institute that is still filling out. AIIMS Rajkot runs 14 broad-speciality and six super-speciality services, DeshGujarat reported. Nadda said a large medical institution normally takes around a decade to establish, while the Rajkot campus added several facilities within three years despite the Covid pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the institute’s foundation stone in December 2020. IANS also reported the Rs 39 crore figure and the virtual inauguration.
Sources: ThePrint (PTI), The Free Press Journal, DeshGujarat, Punjab Kesari (IANS)
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.